By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

This week Canada celebrated the 10-year
anniversary of the first day that two same-sex
couples tied the knot as an entire country.

photo: Courtesy, feministlawprofs.law.sc.edu

In the past 10 years, only five states in the U.S. have been able to enact laws allowing gays and lesbians to have civil unions. Another six states have domestic partnerships similar to civil unions and another three states have other types of recognition which give committed samesex couples some sort of rights. What all of these arrangements lack is the full benefits that legalized marriage give to couples. So while they be the brunt of many jokes, America’s neighbor to the North, Canada, has one thing that this country does not nor will have in the near future: the ability to marry freely. On Jan. 14, Canada celebrated the 10- year anniversary of the first day that two same-sex couples tied the knot as an entire country watched and hoped that this would not be a road to disaster. Joe Varnell and Kevin Bourassa, along with Anne and Elaine Vautour, were the first same-sex couples to be married in Toronto at Riverdale’s Metropolitan Community Church on Jan. 14, 2001. “I had no idea how huge this was going to be for so many people. It made a huge difference in the world,” said Anne Vautour.

Elaine remembered her wedding day with mixed emotions.

“It was huge, and it was a little bit scary, because they brought us to the church in an armoured vehicle – but it was exciting,” Elaine said.

The Rev. Brent Hawkes married the two despite protests and death threats. He wore a bullet-proof vest at the ceremony and was under police protection during that time.

“There were 50 police outside, searching people as they came into the building. It was all so terrifying. The night before, I called my family and told them, ‘I love you. If anything happens to me, I love you,’” Hawkes recalled.

The gentlemen also remember quite the tense moments leading up to their nuptials.

“We said goodbye to people, we told them we loved them,” said Bourassa, now 52.

“We were told we were under threat. The last words police officers said to us as we went down the aisle was, ‘If you hear a shot don’t move, somebody will move you, just stand still.’ We were told if a shot was going to come it would most likely be when we signed the papers because they’d try to stop us from signing.”

According to the latest Canadian census, there are at least 7,500 married samesex couples in Canada.

Even with 10 years of history and the world not coming to an end, some Canadians have to continue to fight for their legal right to get married.

Saskatchewan’s top court said marriage commissioners cannot use religion to say “no” to nuptials for same-sex couples. The Appeal Court had been asked by the government to rule on a proposed provincial law that would have allowed commissioners to cite religious grounds in refusing to marry gay men or lesbians.

The issue arose when Commissioner Orville Nichols, a devout Baptist, refused to marry a gay couple in 2005.

“We know our government is behind us. We know in terms of the Charter, Canada is behind us,” said Bourassa. “I hope other people never have to get married under those circumstances, but we really do believe it was worth it.”

The Vatours, Varnell and Bourassa joined 50 other couples in an anniversary party in Toronto to commemorate the occasion. For these decade old couples, it really is just about the simplest things.

“I just want Anne to know my love for her is stronger than it was 10 years ago,” Elaine said.

It only took them 112 years, but some of the largest financial institutions in the nation are targeting gay and lesbians with marketing geared toward investments and returns for families, both in the long and short term.

Recently, Northern Trust, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo have all put out directives from the top of management to court the non-traditional families’ money.

“There is a large LGBT marketplace there,” said John McGowan, a longtime Northern Trust banker, to the Miami Herald’s Steve Rothaus. “Florida has very few laws that protect same-sex couples. It’s a matter of making clients aware of estate and legal documents that need to be in place to protect the relationship, the family.”

Northern Trust launched a website dedicated to ‘Custom Solutions for LGBT and Non-Traditional Families.’

“We understand the financial and estate planning challenges you face as an LGBT individual or same-sex couple, and we have the expertise to help you and your loved ones navigate them,” boasts Northern Trusts website.

Since Federal Law does not recognize same-sex marriages, unions or anything similar, it’s important for gay and lesbian couples to create proper paperwork naming each other as power of attorneys and leaving wills so that the government can’t swoop in and decide the fate of mutual property or holdings.

“Northern Trust recognizes the definition of family has evolved,” McGowan said. “We have been helping LGBT clients develop wealth management strategies for decades and have the experience to deal with unique legal, tax and wealth transfer challenges. The creation of this group will help ensure our strategic focus will be executed more broadly across our network.”

As recently as last year, Galileo Capital Management launched an investment vehicle focused on the LGBT community. Galileo was raising capital to investment in LGBT owned and operated businesses that needed help getting off the ground and expanding.

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

photo Daniel Hernandez

Two weeks ago, Daniel Hernandez blended into the 35,000 thousand students that attend the University of Arizona. Now he is a hero who receives applause from his fellow classmates and neighbors and taking meetings of congratulations from President Barack Obama.

Hernandez’s actions helped save the life of Rep.

Gabrielle Giffords after she was shot in the head during a bloody rampage that left six dead and dozens others wounded in a Safeway parking lot in Tucson, Ariz.

Giffords is currently recovering from her wounds at University Medical Center in Tucson, and doctors say she is fighting and making progress everyday. Her status has been upgraded from critical to serious.

“It’s really hard to describe how much better I feel and just knowing she’s been a fighter,” Hernandez said. “I can’t say I’m surprised that something miraculous happened, but still, it sends chills down your spine.”

Hernandez held Giffords’ hand and tended to her wounds until paramedics arrived. He had interned for the congresswoman for all of five days prior to the shooting.

When President Barack Obama came to Tucson for the memorial service for the fallen victims, Hernandez sat next to him on stage for the live televised event. Almost as many people wanted to shake Hernandez’s hand as they did of the president’s.

Hernandez said the whole event still seems unreal. He can’t even remember exactly what he said Wednesday night. “I ended up throwing away the speech I was going to be giving moments before I went up on stage. I think it’s really disingenuous to be doing anything other than speaking from the heart.”

The 20-year-old has given more than 200 local and national interviews in the past two weeks, but is really trying to get back to a sense of normalcy for himself and his family.

“My main focus is making sure I can get back to school, make sure no matter what I do I finish up for my degree,” Hernandez said. “I keep saying I don’t want the attention. If that makes sense to anyone but me. It’s just really hard to balance right now.”

Prior to the shooting, Hernandez was a strong fighter for LGBT equality. He was appointed as a commissioner at large to the City of Tucson Commission on Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Issues. He plans to help the organization with education outreach on issues such as bullying. C. Michael Woodward, co-chair of the commission, said Hernandez had a resume bigger than some candidates twice his age.

“It was pretty clear he was a mover and a shaker long before any of this happened,” Woodward said. “The real heroes are the ones who dedicate themselves to public service, but that’s what he’s planning to do anyway. He just got his hero badge early.

” Hernandez’s family has also been stunned by how much his life has changed. “I still see him and I think he’s so normal,” said Alma Hernandez. “I find it awkward that people see him as a celebrity type. Little kids look up to him. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with it. It’s just weird.”

Photo: Rev. Dr. Carlan Helgelson Courtesy, Spring Hill Church

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

An expert panel of 26 leading researchers, clinicians, educators and policy experts has released a comprehensive report on the prevalence and underlying causes of suicidal behavior in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adolescents and adults. The report appears in the Journal of Homosexuality.

Titled “Suicide and Suicide Risk in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Populations: Review and Recommendations,” the report makes sweeping recommendations for closing knowledge gaps in what is known and not known about LGBT suicide behaviors and calls for making LGBT suicide prevention a national priority. This is especially timely in light of multiple suicide deaths among LGBT youth over the past year.

“With this report and recommendations, we hope to move LGBT suicide prevention squarely onto the national agenda and provide a framework for actions aimed at reducing suicidal behavior in these populations,” said Dr. Ann Haas, lead author and director of prevention projects for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). “It’s time for the federal government, suicide prevention agencies, mental health professionals, policy makers and LGBT organizations to join together to bring this problem out of the closet and work toward effective solutions.” Despite four decades of research pointing to elevated rates of suicide attempts among LGBT people, national suicide prevention initiatives, including the 2001 U.S. National Strategy for Suicide Prevention, have given scant attention to suicide risk in sexual minority persons.

According to the AFSP, Florida had 2,587 people commit suicide in 2006.

Some of the key findings and recommendations of the report include strong research evidence of significantly elevated rates of lifetime reported suicide attempts among LGBT adolescents and adults, compared to comparably aged heterosexual persons.

However, the authors found limited empirical evidence of higher rates of suicide deaths in LGBT people, mostly because sexual orientation and gender identity are not indicated on death records in the U.S. and most other countries.

Although multiple studies point to elevated rates of depression, anxiety and substance abuse among sexual minority people, the panel found that these problems, by themselves, do not account for the higher rates of suicide attempts that have been reported by LGBT people.

The consensus report identified stigma and discrimination as playing a key role, especially acts such as rejection or abuse by family members or peers, bullying and harassment, denunciation from religious communities and individual discrimination. The report also highlighted evidence that discriminatory laws and public policies have a profound negative impact on the mental health of gay adults.

In a series of recommendations, the consensus panel called on LGBT organizations to lead efforts to encourage early identification of depression, anxiety, substance abuse and other mental disorders among LGBT people.

The panel called for revision of diagnoses pertaining to transgender people in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (due out in 2013) to affirm that gender identity, expression and behavior that differ from birth sex is not indicative of a mental disorder.

Other recommendations focus on improving information about LGBT people by measuring sexual orientation and gender identity in all national health surveys in which respondents’ privacy can be adequately protected.

Organizations all over Florida are doing their part to try and help curb the gay teen suicide problem. In Tampa, Spring Hill United Church of Christ has launched a Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays chapter to help students in the area who feel they have nowhere else to turn to.

“We knew there was no PFLAG chapter in the county, but there are gay and lesbian kids (in Hernando),” said the Rev. Dr. Carlan Helgelson, the church’s pastor. “There has been no place for them to go and find support.”

The Broward County Commission has welcomed it’s one and only Republican member to the dais after Lighthouse Point Commissioner Chip LaMarca defeated Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl Nov. 2 for the District 4 seat. LaMarca, along with new commissioners Dale Holness and Barbara Sharief, took their seats on the county commission Nov. 16.

Keechl, who is openly-gay, had the second largest constituency for an openly gay elected official in the entire country, according to the Victory Fund. But that constituency wasn’t enough to grant Keechl a win over LaMarca, who managed to pick up 24,918 votes to Keechl’s 22,678 votes. District 4 encompasses Fort Lauderdale, Wilton Manors, Pompano Beach and Deerfield Beach.

“The untold story is how close I came to winning,” said Keechl, who admitted that it was not a good year to be a Democrat. “It didn’t take a genius to see that the Democrats were going to do poorly. It was a terrible year to be a Democrat.” Keechl’s loss comes as a shock in a county where registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans 549,797 to 247,181, according to the Broward County Supervisors of Elections.

In addition, Keechl had amassed $590,000 in his campaign fund while LaMarca only spent $146,000. With those types of numbers, it’s clear that voter resentment for the Democratic Party played heavily into Keechl’s loss, and it’s a loss that even caught him by surprise.

“I thought I was going to pull it out. But I also know that if you are not willing to lose, then you shouldn’t play the game,” Keechl said.

Keechl has done a lot for the LGBT community. He is credited with adding genderidentity and expression protections to Broward County’s anti-discrimination human rights ordinance, sponsoring a county resolution seeking to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” and he made Domestic Partnership Benefits a requirement for any company wanting his vote on competitive procurement contracts.

He credits commissioners who came before him for laying the foundation for LGBT rights in Broward, and says he will continue to work with the current commissioners on future LGBT issues.

He also never voted to raise property taxes and was a strong proponent of eliminating wasteful spending, protecting dwindling open spaces, ensuring adequate funding for beach re-nourishment and promoting sensible development on the coast.

“I am proud of the contribution I made and I know I still have a lot more to contribute,” said Keechl. “I have enjoyed the last four years and would do it all over again.”

And that’s exactly what he plans to do, quite possibly as soon as 2012.

But with the aftermath of the election just a few weeks behind him, Keechl said he will probably return to practicing law while he explores his options. As far as what political office he will seek, Keechl has just begun to weight his options.

“I’ll make that decision as the opportunities present themselves,” he said. “People are already approaching me for various seats in 2012.”

His accomplishments while in office are numerous, but that didn’t stop his opponents from criticizing his campaign.

Voters say he reneged on his 2006 promise of working full time as a County Commissioner and not practicing law. He also came under scrutiny for negative ads he ran against LaMarca as well as for using campaign funds to pay the mortgage on a property he owns. In Keechl’s defense, that property was used as his campaign headquarters.

But none of that deters Keechl. When asked if there is anything he would do differently during the campaign that could have resulted in a victory, he wastes no time in answering.

“I can’t think of anything I would do differently. Sometimes you just come up short,” said Keechl. “Public service is in my blood.”

December 1.

Campaign brings recognition to those affected by HIV/AIDS

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

Since its recognition as an official disease in 1981, AIDS has killed more than 25million people all over the world. As of2009, as many as 33.3 million people glob-ally were living with HIV/AIDS, according to UN AIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. The entire world will gather together on Dec. 1 to recognize World AIDS Day and remember those who have lost the fight with one of the deadliest pandemics in recorded history.

World AIDS Day is celebrated on Dec. 1every year and originally started in 1988.It was the brainchild of James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two public information officers for the Global Program on AIDS at the World Health Organization in Switzerland.

Communities from all over the world will gather together to hold events. Many of the affairs include candlelight vigils,AIDS Quilt displays, speeches by activists and calls to action for local, state and federal governments to continue to help those who are infected and affected by the disease.

In Florida alone, hundreds of events are scheduled all over including church-es, community organizations, AIDS clinics and colleges. Here is a highlight of some events happening in the Sunshine State:

In Broward County, residents will have the opportunity to pay tribute to family, loved ones and friends who have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS by signing a special Broward County Quilt Panel which will be installed as part of the6,000 Panel

Quilt Collection. “The NAMES Project/AIDS Memorial Quilt represents 25 years in our struggle to remember those lost to the epidemic and its impact on communities, without boundaries separated by race, gender or age,” said William Green, Broward County Health Care Services Administrator.

In Miami-Dade County, Florida International University’s school of Journalism and Mass Communication will present a 15-minute student produced video titled “The Stigma Stops with Me,” followed by a panel discussion.Panelists include: Miami-Dade Public Health officials, FIU health communicators and 38-year old HIV positive Latina Damaris “Dee” Cruz, who is featured in the documentary.

In Orlando, the Center Orlando will also display five panels of the AIDS Quilt.

Some of the larger events happening all over the world include Sir Elton John serving as guest editor of the United Kingdom Newspaper The Independent;Liza Minnelli and Stockard Channing will host a Light for Rights campaign in New York City; In Washington D.C.,Persistent Voices will showcase poetry by writers who have passed away from AIDS; and in Capetown, South Africa, the Art scape Opera house will give a benefit concert with all proceeds going to help fight the disease in Africa, the continent that is currently affected the most.

The biggest reason for World AIDS Dayis to remind governments and individuals around the globe that AIDS is not going away anytime soon.

“Simply put, HIV is no longer on the public’s radar screen, and the result is deadly serious,” said C. Everett Koop,who was surgeon general in 1981 when AIDS became officially recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Although ignorance about AIDS remains widespread, the irrational fear that accompanied its emergence in the early 1980s has now been replaced bya growing sense of complacency that is as dangerous.”

Approximately 56,000 Americans con-tract the HIV-virus every year. In July2010, President Barack Obama launched a new campaign that included reducing new HIV infections, increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for people living with HIV, and reducing HIV-related disparities and health inequities.

Visit www.worldaidscampaign.org.

Kevin Burns was attacked and raped Nov. 12 in Fort Lauderdale.

By DMITRY RASHNITSOV

Wilton Manors Police are investigating a series of attempted rapes and muggings that have caused grave concern in and around the small predominantly gay and lesbian community. At about 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 12, 23-year-old Kevin Burns was attacked and forcefully sodomized in the 1800 block of N. Dixie Highway in Fort Lauderdale, less than a block outside of Wilton Manors, according to a Wilton Manors Police Report.

According to Burns, he was walking down Dixie Highway when a 5-foot- 9-inch white male with a swimmer’s build, who appeared to be in his 40’s with dark hair and dark circles under his eyes, asked him for a cigarette.

“After I handed him a cigarette he smashed me over my head with a big rock,” Burns recalls. “He went and grabbed my shirt and ripped my shirt and used it to strangle me. As he was strangling me he stabbed me seven times with a hypodermic needle. I don’t know what was in the needle. I don’t know what it was for. I went to go scream and he took the shirt and he held it even tighter and said ‘shut the fuck up.’”

Burns said that he was terrified and could not believe what was happening to him, but that was just the beginning of the ordeal. Burns ended up falling to the ground.

“He starts pushing me over the wires, takes a knife out and cuts my belt,” Burns said. “Then he takes my pants and rips them completely off. With his bare hands he reached in and grabbed my underwear and just tore it off of me. He then put the knife back on my throat, made little slices on my neck, telling me to ‘shut up, shut up, be quiet, shut up.’”

Burns said the unidentified male continued hitting him in the head with a rock and pushing his face into the dirt.

“He tried to penetrate me once and it wasn’t working,” Burns said. “Then there was something slimy, spit or lube or something, he did get in, and with one searing, burning, unimaginable pain he was in. He just kept slamming my body and slamming and slamming and slamming, and he just kept pushing my face in the dirt telling me to ‘shut up’ and ‘not to cry’ and then it was over. He hit me one more time on the back of the head and told me not to move or he would kill me.”

Before the attack started, Burns was on the phone with his ex-boyfriend, who according to the police report, heard the entire attack take place. Burns remembers calling the police department, and initially Wilton Manors police arrived but could not touch Burns until Fort Lauderdale Police arrived because he was in their jurisdiction.

According to the Fort Lauderdale Police report, “the victim had dirt on his person consistent with a struggle occurring on the ground.

The victim had a bruise on the left side of his head. The victim had scrape marks on various areas such as stomach and back area. The victim had knife blade marks on the left side of his neck consistent with a knife being held against the surface of his neck and moving slightly during the incident.” Burns said he is taking anti-retroviral medication because doctors are worried he may have been infected with HIV infected blood from the hypodermic needle. Burns said officers told him they are investigating several attacks of a similar nature in the area.

“He took a piece of my heart, he took a piece of my soul, he took a piece of me,” Burns said. “He took a piece of who I am with him when he walked away from me that night and left me in the dirt. I’m not going to be one of those people who curls up in a ball and cries; I’m not going to let this ruin me. I will get my dignity back, I will get my heart and soul back, and the only way to do that is to make sure he pays.”

Mugging on the other side of town

On Nov. 5, in a completely unrelated incident on the other side of Wilton Manors, 23-year-old Ryan Dixon thwarted an attempted mugging by two black men who appeared to be in their late teens or early 20’s.

According to a Wilton Manors Police report, Dixon was walking south at the 2400 Block of NE Sixth Avenue near 26th Street when two black males approached him, and one of them punched him in the face. Dixon described the male who punched him as 5-feet-8-inches to 5-feet- 10-inches tall, 180-200 lbs, wearing a white tank top, black shorts with a white stripe down the sides and a green-colored hat. The second male was 5-feet-8-inches to 5- feet-10-inches tall, 200-210 lbs, wearing a white polo shirt that had horizontal yellow and blue stripes, and black shorts past his knees.

“When he punched me he knocked my glasses off and I yelled what are you doing,” Dixon recalls. “One of them told me to give them whatever I had in my pockets. I turned to walk away and one of them grabbed my backpack. I turned and punched them and they both backed off. They then walked away from me – not ran, but just casually walked away.” Dixon was able to reach police, but by the time they arrived, the two suspects were nowhere to be seen.

This is not the first incident of its kind on the same road, with at least three similar incidents reported to Wilton Manors Police within the last six months.

If you have any information about either the reported rape on Nov. 12 or the attempted mugging on Nov. 5, please contact the Wilton Manors Police at (954) 390- 2150

photo courtesy: George Washington U

Kay-Kay Allums was an unimpressive point guard her first two seasons on the George Washington University’s women’s basketball team. But in her junior year, Allums will always be remembered for the statement she made off the court. The 21-year old has publicly come out as transgender, asking all teammates and coaches to refer to him as a male and changed his name to Kye. Allums will be the first transgender person ever to play NCAA Division I college basketball.

“It got too tough. It got too tough to not be me,” Allums said. “People would call me a girl and say, ‘she’ and refer to me as someone I knew I wasn’t.”

Allums knew she was transgender in high school but kept it to herself. She planned on finishing her college basketball career without telling anyone, but decided she could not take being called a girl anymore. George Washington University is located in Washington, D.C.

Allums will not be able to have surgery or begin hormone therapy while she is still playing basketball, but plans on fully converting once her playing days are over. Right now she wants to be a role model for other teens and young adults who may be struggling to come to terms with their transgender identity. “

I wanted to set an example for other people who are afraid to be themselves,” Allums said. Allums said it was very easy for her to tell her coaches and teammates, but writing an email to her brother took her 15 minutes to type and five hours to send. The young man said he has received an outpouring of love from her community, back home in Minnesota and all across the rest of the world. “GW has been supportive during this transition,” Allums said. “This means a lot. I didn’t choose to be born in this body and feel the way I do. I decided to transition, that is change my name and pronouns because it bothered me to hide who I am, and I am trying to help myself and others to be who they are.

I told my teammates first and they, including my coaches, have supported me. My teammates have embraced me as the big brother of the team. They have been my family, and I love them all.”

GW officials have publicly acknowledged the historic significance of Allums’ announcement.

“The George Washington University women’s basketball program, including myself, supports Kye’s right to make this decision,” said Mike Bozeman, head coach of the university’s women’s basketball team. Allums will play in his first game since his coming out on Nov. 13 at the Best Buy Classic in Minneapolis. He started 20 out of 26 games last year and averaged 7.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists in 24.9 minutes per game. Allums has a scholarship to play on the women’s basketball team, but at this point there are no indications that he will lose it. He has no plans to play for the George Washington men’s basketball team.

Allums announcement has helped others with their own transition. “Kye is a brave, courageous young man and I’m very proud of what he is doing,” said Anthony Jacob Nizza, a female-to-male transsexual who began his transition at age 39. “Makes me feel very proud to be who I am.”

Democrats lost bids for Florida’s Governor’s office, State Attorney General, Chief Financial Officer and Agriculture Commissioner. In addition, when Florida’s legislature reconvenes next year, only 12 politicians in the 40-member Senate and 39 politicians in the 120-member House will be affiliated with the Democratic Party. A Republican supermajority is born.

What this means is that Democrats will not be able to stop any legislation that Republican Senate and House members put on the table.

“At this moment, we don’t have one voice,” said Sen. Nan Rich of Weston, who will be the Democrat’s Senate leader for the next two years. “There is no question we have to sit down and figure out a strategy.”

Rich is a champion of LGBT rights and had previously filed bills to abolish the ban on gay and lesbian couples adopting children. The ban is no longer in place after a recent court ruling overturned it and the state refused to appeal.

Palm Beach County Human Rights Council President Rand Hoch said the new makeup of Florida’s legislative bodies will resonate the same message towards the gay community as the previous legislative bodies had.

“Neither the Florida Senate nor the Florida House of Representatives has been supportive of LGBT legislation for many, many years,” Hoch said. “The last pro-gay law – the Hate Crimes law – was passed in 1991. Not a single pro-gay law has been passed by the legislature in almost 20 years. While there may be fewer legislators willing to voice their support for pro-LGBT legislation, it makes no difference if legislation can not get passed. So I do not think that the outcome of the legislative races means very much at all.”

One extremely tough loss as a voice for the LGBT community was Florida Rep. Kelly Skidmore (D-90) who ran for the State Senate seat in District 25. Skidmore had also sponsored

a bill to overturn the ban on gay adoptions, and she was the politician that led the fight for inclusion of LGBT youth in a safe schools bill that passed last year.

“Kelly Skidmore never had a chance to win the Senate race,” Hoch said. “While it is a shame to lose an advocate, she did little to change the hearts and minds in Tallahassee. In fact, during her entire tenure in the legislature, she was never able to get a hearing on the LGBT civil rights bill she sponsored. The seat she ran for went to Sen.-elect Ellyn Bogdanoff, who has worked behind the scenes with the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council for the past several years. Her insight proved to be invaluable. While I do not see her as being a champion of our issues, clearly she will be able to help us determine what is – and what is not – possible to accomplish in the years to come.”

According to Equality Florida, a statewide LGBT civil rights organization, the election results were disappointing, but the state is moving toward equality, at a ginger pace.

“Record majorities of Floridians now stand with us on nearly every issue we fight for,” wrote Equality Florida’s Tobias Parker in a post. “But the reason this support has not always translated into victories at the ballot box is that Florida’s voting districts are drawn to dramatically favor the party in power, which leads to extremism.”

With the passage of Amendments 5 and 6, Florida’s districts will all be redrawn to look more fair and equal and be less about the number of Republicans and Democrats that live in each area.

“Our elected leaders may propel us or stymie our progress, but they cannot stop our forward march,” wrote Tobias. “Full equality is inevitable as long as we continue to stay in the fight.”

Hoch believes the frontier for gay equality needs to be taken down to the hyper-local level.

“It is too bad that all of the money raised for lobbying and candidates did not go toward setting up LGBT community centers in as many places across Florida as possible,” Hoch said. “Think of the progress that could have been made if that had been the focus of our attention over the past 10 years.”

On October 12, gay and lesbian military personnel serving in the United States Armed Services all over the world were finally able to breath a sigh of relief that they wouldn’t lose their job if they were outed. However, the past week and a half has been more stressful in the fight to repeal, ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ than the previous 17 years of the policies existence.

The Log Cabin Republicans, a group that works within the Republican Party to advocate equal rights for all Americans filed suit in federal district court against “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2004. The case went to trial in Riverside, California in July of 2010, and Judge Virginia Phillips ruled on September 9, 2010 that the policy violated the First and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. On October 12, Judge Phillips granted a world-wide injunction against enforcement of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

“After finding in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States that ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ violates service members’ First and Fifth Amendment rights, a world-wide injunction was the only reasonable solution,” said Christian Berle, Deputy Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans. “These soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guardsmen sacrifice so much in defense of our nation and our Constitution. It is imperative that their constitutional freedoms be protected as well. This decision is also a victory for all who support a strong national defense. No longer will our military be compelled to discharge service members with valuable skills and experience because of an archaic policy mandating irrational discrimination. The United States is stronger because of this injunction, and the Log Cabin Republicans is proud to have brought the case that made it possible.”

President Barack Obama had long campaigned for the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and continues to say that he wants the law overturned by congress, but his administration has decided to appeal Judge Phillip’s injunction to a higher court.

“First of all, I haven’t ‘mentioned’ that I’m against ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ I have said very clearly, including in a State of the Union address, that I’m against ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and that we’re going to end this policy. That’s point number one,” President Obama stated during the MTV-BET “Youth Town Hall” meeting October 14 at BET Networks studio in Washington, D.C. “Point number two, the difference between my position right now and Harry Truman’s was that Congress explicitly passed a law that took away the power of the executive branch to end this policy unilaterally. So this is not a situation in which, with a stroke of a pen, I can simply end the policy.”

While President Obama’s pen seems to have run out of ink, lawyers at the Justice department have had time to type up responses to Judge Phillips and continue to fight her decision. They plan on taking the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco and, ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The farther the decision gets from the presentation of evidence in the trial court, the more likely it is that courts will assume the military must have some critically important interest at stake,” said Diane Mazur, a law professor who opposes the policy.

Nearly 14,000 troops have been fired since the policy’s enactment. The Pentagon has come out and stated that they will have difficulty with complying with the DADT injunction. “Requiring the Department to cease all enforcement of DADT, immediately and worldwide, will cause significant disruptions to the force in the short term,” a statement from the Pentagon said. The Pentagon also suggested that it has not provided the troops with any training to prepare for the suspension of the ban.

Since the Judge’s ruling there have been no incidents filed relating to Unit cohesion problems, disciplinary problems, resignations, or privacy problems relating to openly-gay troops. A recent survey of armed services personal said that 2/3 of them believed that someone in their unit is gay, so training troops is probably more of an excuse than an actual problem that the army will realistically have to deal with.

For those banking on DADT being repealed during the lame-duck Congress session after the elections where the Democrats are expected to have their last chance at a majority Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz) has already come out and publicly stated that he will filibuster any attempt to repeal DADT.

“I will filibuster or stop it from being brought up until we have a thorough and complete study of the effect on morale and battle effectiveness,” McCain said.

The former presidential candidate said in 2006 that he would support a repeal of DADT. Is it old age or his maverick ways that have caused McCain to forget what he once stood for?

While congressmen, the president, judges, attorneys and civil rights groups continue the DADT fight in a courtroom and through paperwork, real closeted gay and lesbian troops all over the world must sit and wait to see what the outcome of all of this legal wrangling will be, while living in fear that someone with a vendetta against them may out them for no reason and cause a good person to needlessly lose their job.